The Long Legacy of Dorian Gray: Why the European Union Needs to Redefine its Role in Global Affairs (in Special Issue: The Future of European Foreign Policy)

Abstract: The article analyses the future of EU foreign policy and Europe's role in global governance from a normative and from an outside perspective. It argues that Europe needs to acknowledge an increasingly peripheral place in world affairs. It therefore has to create a new narrative for EU external affairs in the twenty-first century which does not see Europe as the anchor of the world. The EU can remain credible and effective only if it fundamentally shifts its mind-set from Europe's promises and ambitions to Europe's global obligations. What matters is not what Europe wants to do, but what Europe has to do to fulfil global duties. Based on six general principles of responsibility (capacity, community, consent, contribution, beneficiary and legitimate expectation principles), the article then defines priorities and primary obligations for Europe which reflect the EU's actual capacities. It calls for a more modest EU that avoids raising unrealistic and exaggerated expectations. Instead of assuming more tasks by chance or choice, the EU must have a clearer sense of what it should do alone and what has to be done through better inter-institutional cooperation. A responsible EU would overcome Euro-centric notions of self-importance and would remain significant only if it served the global community by its very considerable economic and political means.

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